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THE HISTORY OF THE FORTY-NINTH PARALLEL 
SURVEY WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 



BY 

OTTO KLOTZ 



REPRINTED FROM 

THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 

Vol. Ill, No. 5 (May, 191 7) 



AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY 

BROADWAY AT 156th STREET 
NEW YORK 






ay Tranafer 

JUN 8 1919 



[Ki:i-i:i.NTr.li l-ltoM Till dcniiyin'liicdl Riiinr, Vul.. Ill, Xu. .j, .May, I'JIT.] 



THE HISTORY OF THE FORTY-NINTH PARALLEL SURVEY 
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 

By OTTO KLOTZ 

The object of this paper is to tell the — one may almost say — romantic 
story of the survey in 1857-61 of the boundary between the United States 
and Cauiida tdong the forty-iiintli parallel west of tlie summit of the Rocky 
Mountains and to relate how the final report, whicli had been lost until 
that time, was found in July, 1898. 

In order to give adecjuate meaning- to that discovery, it is necessary to 
review bi'ietly the history of the boundary line. V>y the treaty of June 15, 
1846, signed by James Buchanan and Richard Pakenham, between the 
United States and Great Britain, Article I, describing the boundary line, 
reads^ : 

From the point on the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude where the boundary 
l;,id down in existing treaties and conventions between the United States and Great 
Britain terminates, the line of boundary between the territories of the United States 
and those of Her Britannic Majesty shall be continued westward along the said forty- 
ninth parallel of north latitude to the middle of the channel which separates the conti- 
nent Irom Vancouver's Island, and thence southerly through the middle of said channel 
and P"'uca 's Straits, to the Pacitie Ocean : Provided, Iwwever, That the navigation of the 
whole of said channel and straits south of the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude 
remain free and open to both parties. 

In the official correspondence of the time the section of the boundary 
between the summit of the Rocky Mountains and the Strait of Georgia is 
spoken of as the "land boundary" to distinguish it from its western con- 
tinuation through the strait separating Vancouver Island from the main- 
land, which was designated the "water boundary." Throughout this article 
the land boundary, along the forty-ninth parallel, is alone considered. 

It was not until ten years later, on August 11, 1856, that Congress 
authorized the appointment of a commission which, with a similar commis- 
sion to be appointed by Great Britain, was to carry out the provisions of 
the above Article I. Archibald Campbell was appointed the United States 
commissioner and Col. J. S. Hawkins the British commissioner, and Major 
J. G. Parke and Capt. R. W. Haig were appointed the respective astrono- 
mers. Field operations were begun in 1857 and concluded in 1861. It 
is interesting to note the arrangement made August 13, 1858, by the joint 
commission^ : 

After discussing plans for determining and marking the line as far eastward [from 
the Strait of Georgia] as the Cascade Mountains, it was concluded to be ijuexpedient 

1 Treaties and Conventions Concluded between the United States and Other Powers, State Dept. 
Washington, 1889, p. 438; also C. S. Geol. Humy Bull. -i"2r,, 1904, p. 19. 

2 Foreign Ottice Correspondence, Part III, p. IG, Ottice of the Chief Astronomer, Dejit. of the Interior, 
Ottawa, 1899 '«ee also footnote 6). 

382 



FOKTY-NINTH PARALLEL SURVEY 383 

at the present time, in consequence of the great expense, consumption of time, and the 
impracticable nature of the country, to mark the whole boundary by cutting a track 
through the dense forest. It was therefore agreed to ascertain certain points on the 
line by the determination of astronomical points at convenient intervals on or near the 
boundary, and to mark such astronomical stations, or points fixed on the parallel form- 
ing the boundary, by cutting a track of not less than 20 feet in width on each side for 
the distance of half a mile or more, according to circumstances. Further, that the 
boundary be determined and similarly marked where it crosses streams of any size, 
permanent trails, or any striking natural features of the country. In the vicinity of 
settlements on or near the line, it is deemed advisable to cut the track for a greater 
distance, and to mark it in a manner to be determined hereafter. 

Although the survey was completed late in 1861 it was not until May 
7, 1869, that the final report was signed at Washington by the two com- 
missioners. A very important agreement^ was reached on that day by the 
two commissioners, when they decided — 

that, between any two successive defined points, marked on the ground, shown on the 
maps, and set forth in the accompanying lists, the line of boundary above described is 
to be considered a right or straight line; and that this rule is to apply throughout the 
entire boundary without regard to the distances between the consecutive points or to 
the course of the parallel in such intervals. 

Colonel Hawkins, writing on May 10, 1869, to the Foreign Office and 
referring to this agreement, says^: "We were induced to do this upon con- 
sideration that it was of the greatest importance nothing should be left 
for future discussion or settlement and that our operations should be final 
and conclusive." 

It should be observed that the observations of the tv/o commissions were 
made with the utmost attainable precision and are comparable with the best 
field work of today. The position of the parallel in the 410 miles of its 
length was determined from twenty-eight astronomical stations, eleven of 
which were established by the British commission, fourteen by the United 
States commission, and three by joint observations. The total expense of the 
United States commission was approximately $600,000, equivalent to about 
$1,460 per mile. We may assume that the expense of the British commission 
was about the same, although the figures are not available. Ultimately 
the maps of the survey were published, seven sheets on the scale of 1 :60,000 
(see index map, Fig. 1).^ 

Such were the methods used in establishing the boundary line, which 
cut across a wild, generally forested country with no population save in 
isolated spots. Where is the boundary? and Which line is it? were ques- 
tions that arose later with the advent of settlers in the more open country 
between the Similkameen River and the Columbia. 

As squatters and settlers began to occupy lands on both sides of the 
boundary line they found in places three lines cut through the woods, as 
well as two sets of stone cairns, which naturally left them in a nuandnrv 



3 Ibid . Part IV, p. 7. * Ibid., p. 5. 

^ And publication cited in footnote 9. pp. 22-23. 



384 



Till-: GEOGKAPIIICAL KEVIEW 



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as to wlu'i-c the (k'linite boundary line was. 
Settlers on the Canadian side applied to the 
pi'ovineial government at Vietoria for the nec- 
essary infoi'mation. But none could be sup- 
])lie(l from that source. That government 
referred the question to the federal author- 
ities at Ottawa, but here, too, no records were 
available. It seemed obvious that it would 
only be necessary to write to London to obtain 
the desired information and a copy of the 
tiiuil report of the survey of 1857-61. Now the 
extraordinary happened. This final report 
with the necessary data of the survey was not 
to be found in London. Time and again search 
was made by different persons for the missing 
documents, but all to no avail. To add to the 
remarkable situation, the duplicate final re- 
port was not to be found in any of the govern- 
ment archives in Washington. Does history 
record any similar circumstance ? Two gov- 
ernments are engaged for years on an expen- 
sive international work, a boundary survey ; 
the respective commissioners sign joint final 
reports and transmit them to their respective 
governments ; and the reports are nowhere to 
be found ! The apparently impossible had 
happened, and the outlook was that in the near 
future a new survey under another interna- 
tional commission would have to be made. 

Such was the situation in 1898 when the 
writer was sent by the Dominion Government 
to London and Petrograd on a special mission, 
in which was included the obtaining of infor- 
mation regarding the records and final report 
of the survey. All the Government offices in 
London were visited in which there was the 
faintest likelihood that the records might be 
stored, but all to no avail, and no one seemed 
to be able to give any assistance. Before 
leaving England, however, the writer, as 
astronomer for the Dominion Government, 
naturally paid a visit to the Royal Observa- 
tory at Greenwich. By chance his eye caught 
the initials B. N. A. on some boxes on top of 



FORTY-NINTH PARALLEL SURVEY 385 

the library shelves — letters at once interpreted as possibly standing for 
"British North America." The boxes were taken down, the dust of years 
removed, and in them lay the long-lost records of the international survey 
of the forty-ninth parallel. 

The final report, dated May 7, 1869, and jointly signed by the two 
commissioners, together with other official correspondence pertaining to 
the boundary, has since been published by the Office of Chief Astronomer, 
Department of the Interior, Ottawa.^' 

With the material found it was now possible to understand all the 
operations of the survey, the method of placing the monuments, the reason 
for the existence of diverging lines cut through the forest, and the meaning 
of duplicate cairns. The occurrence of the last was due to the non-removal 
by the men as instructed of those cairns which no longer indicated the 
position of the accepted boundary line. 

In order to understand how and why unavoidable difficulties arose in 
making the demarcation of the boundary line continuous, it is necessarr 
to say a word about astronomical observations for latitude. The zero fron, 
which latitude observations are made is indicated by the "level," and its 
position in turn is the resultant of all the gravitational forces acting on it. 
Mountainous regions generally show deflections of the plumb line, due to 
anomalous distribution of matter. Were there no anomalies it would be 
possible theoretically, after establishing an individual point on any parallel 
of latitude, to establish other points on the parallel from it. Or we may 
say that, if two points are established, the direction a straight line must 
take from the one point to the other is simply a matter of computation. 
In the present case the effect of this condition was most noticeable in the 
96 miles from the Similkameen River to the Columbia, where most of the 
duplicate cuttings in the forest were found. In a letter dated March 28, 
1861, and addressed to the Secretary of State, Colonel Hawkins said^ : 

If the actupl toiindary -^vas to be defined by the joint commission in any part of 
the space intervening between the waters of the Pacific and the Rocky Mountains, the 
interval between the Similkameen and the Columbia Rivers is not only of as much 
importance as, if not of greater importance than, any other part of the line, but it also 
presented greater facilities for the performance of tlie necessary operations, while 
it embraces about a fourth of the whole extent of land boundary comprehended in the 
treaty under which the commission was appointed. 

The astronomic stations in this section of the boundary were, in order 
from west to east: Similkameen (119° 35' W. ; U. S.) ; Osoyoos (119° 24'; 
Br.) ; First Crossing, or Newhoilpitkw (118° 44'; U. S.) ; Second Crossing, 
or Inshwointum (118° 28'; Br.); Third Crossing, or Statapoosten (118° 
16'; U. S.) ; Columbia (117° 38'; Br. and U. S.). It will be remembered 
that it was agreed to project the boundary line a short distance east and 
west from each astronomic station. This was done. From the British 

6 Foreisn Office Correspondence, Parts III and IV, Ottawa, 1899. 
" Thill.. Van III, p. 41, Ottawa, 18'.)'J. 



386 THE GEOUlJAl'lliCAL KEVJEW 

station at Osoyoos, the British commission ran lines — cutting the forest 
where encountered — west and east to meet the United States astronomic 
stations respectively at Similkameen and at tlie First Crossin<i\ and similarly 
from the Second Crossing again to the First Crossing and eastward to the 
Third Crossing. The not-unexpected happened — the lines did not meet, 
owing to "local deflection of the plumb line," although tiie discrepancies 
were greater than expected. At Similkameen the line came 509 feet north 
of the United States station ; at the First Crossing the Osoyoos line came 
364 feet north of the United States station, but the line projected from the 
Second (-rossing westward came 300 feet south of this same United States 
station ; i. e., the two British lines run from British stations were 664 feet 
apart. This was not attributable to any error in the work, for the work 
was well done, but to the inherent idiosyncrasies of the environing mass 
distribution. Because of this operation of connecting or trying to connect 
the astronomic stations there now were two lines cut at each of the three 
United States stations. Things could not be left in this condition. After 
discussion by the officers of the two commissions on March 4, 1861, "it was 
agreed that a mean parallel should be adopted, and a new line run and 
marked from tlie Similkameen to Statapoosten.'"' And this new line was 
run and marked by the United States commission. Thus in places a third 
line was cut; tliis was the definitive line. This explains why on the ground 
several vistas througli tlie woods existed side by side. From the position 
of the mean parallel at Statapoosten the British commission subsequently 
ran the line to connect with the astronomic stations on the Columbia. 
Here, too, the line suffered a deflection to the north, namely, of 212 feet. 
As already mentioned the cairns should all have been removed from the 
preliminary lines joining astronomic stations and only those left which 
were on the final line. The circumstance that this was not done added 
to subsequent mystification ; but the finding of the original records and 
final report cleared up everything. 

It may be interesting to continue the story and recount what happened 
in "Washington. Marcus Baker, cartographer, made a report" on June 9, 
1900, to the director of the U. S. Geological Survey on this boundary line. 
He searched the various departments in Washington for documents per- 
taining to the survey and had personal interviews and correspondence with 
men then living who had been officially connected with the boundary survey, 
with a view to throwing light, if possible, on "the most important document 
of all," the final report, but failed. Bakor f|uotes'" from the 18S9 repoi't 
of Capt. George M. Wheeler, U. S. A., as follows: 

I have ])een unalile to tvar-e tbe iii;uiusr'ri])t of the final report, inrhuTmy- (hat of the 
chief astronoTiKM- mid tlie specialists, wliiili if w.-is believed was made. According to 
the Journal of the Senate of February 9, 1871, this report was called for by the Senate, 

8 Foreign Office Corresponclence, Part HI, p. 57, Ottawa. 1899. 

3 Survey of the Xorthwestern Boundary of the United States, l'. s. Genl.SurvfV Bull. 17 't, Washington, 19(i0. 
10 Ibid., p. 11. 



FORTY-NJNTir PARALLEL SURVEY 387 

but a search of the Senate records and also those of the State Department, made at my 
request by Mr. Dwight, librarian of the State Department, remained unavailing on 
June ]5, ]&87. Mr. William J. Warren, secretary of the commissioner [and] now chief 
clerk [in the office] uf the [Chief of] Engineer[s], [AVar] Department, recollects to 
have seen the manuscript of this report at the office of the Northern Boundary [Sur- 
vey], established in 1873, as does also Major J. F. Gregory, Corps of Engineers, a 
member of that commission, but it could not be found by Mr. Dwight in the records 
transmitted at the close of the latter survey to the State Department. 

Baker adds to the above: "The search above mentioned I have now 
repeated and with like resnlt. The manuscript has not been found." 
Farther on^^ Baker writes: "But the report, unfortunately, was not pub- 
lished, and the manuscript lias for many years been lost to view. Its where- 
abouts are still unknown. The reason it was not published, I am informed, 
is that Mr. Fish, Secretary of State at that time, deemed its publication 
too expensive. The war had brought a mountain of debt, and under these 
conditions he refused to sanction so costly a publication." 

Such were the vicissitudes of the 1857-61 survey. In 1900 it was decided 
to re-mark the boundary in order that there might be no doubt as to its 
exact position — a condition made necessary by the increased settlement and 
economic development of the region. Commissioners were appointed as 
follows: Dr. W. F. King, Chief Astronomer of the Canadian Department 
of the Interior, for Great Britain ; and Dr. C. D. Walcott, Director of the 
U. S. Geological Survey, and Dr. 0. II. Tittmann, Superintendent of 
the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, for the United States. The sur- 
vey was carried out in the years 1901-07, and the final map, in 19 sheets 
on the scale of 1:62,500, was published in 1913 (see index map. Fig. 1).^^ 
A network of triangulation was established,^'' monuments were placed at 
frequent intervals, and in the forested areas a clear sky-line was cut. 
However, the line, as now marked and cleared throughout, is based on 
the monuments and positions established in the original survey of 1857-61. 
The fortunate find of the lost report "doubtless prevented complications 
which might otherwise have arisen as to the details of the boundary and 
obviated the necessity of a new treaty or of special provisions in the general 
treaty. ' '^^ 

" Ibid., pp. 17-18. 

'2 And review under " North America, ^ieiieral " in the section "Geographical Publications," below. 
13 See diagram in Rrpt. Siipt. Vomt itnd (ixulitic Sirnry, 190S-190l^. p. 149. For account of the operations 
of the Survey see the annual reports of this bureau from that for 1902-03 to that for 1908-09. 

1* O. H. Tittmann: Our Northern Boundaries, Journ. Washington, Acad, of Sci., Vol. 4, 1914, No. 3. 



